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Lead Stories: Wednesday, October 15, 2008

Despite Late Start, Tollefson Still Hoping For Beijing Birth

Posted May 31st, 2008 at 12:27 PM by David Monti

Section: News & Results, Track & Field

Carrie Tollefson traveled a rough road to make the USA Olympic team for the 2004 Games in Athens, and it looks like her path to this year’s Beijing Olympics won’t be any smoother.

Tollefson, 31, made it to the 2004 Games in the 1500m when she won a four-way sprint at the USA Olympic Trials over Jen Toomey, Amy Rudolph and Jenelle Deatherage. Just 39/100ths of a second separated the top four women in a race Tollefson was essentially forced to run after finishing only sixth in the 5000m final, her primary event.

But things got even weirder after that. Not a single finisher in that 1500m final had achieved the Olympic Games “A” standard of 4:05.80. Suzy Favor Hamilton had the time and ran in the prelims, but a hamstring injury forced her to scratch from the final. That meant that Tollefson had to achieve at least the “B” standard of 4:08.20 to get herself on the team, and if she achieved the “A” standard she would bring Favor Hamilton along with her (for two or more athletes to compete in an Olympic Games discipline both must have the “A” standard; only one can compete with the “B” standard).
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Tollefson Confirmed for Medtronic TC 1 Mile

Posted May 7th, 2008 at 4:30 PM by David Monti

Section: News & Results, Road Racing

Despite missing last Sunday’s Payton Jordan Cardinal Invitational meeting at Stanford due to an illness, Team USA Minnesota’s Carrie Tollefson will line up for tomorrow evening’s Medtronic TC 1 Mile in Minneapolis, her manager Rich Kenah confirmed.

“Yes,” wrote Kenah in a short text message from his BlackBerry. “She is running.”

Tollefson’s key rivals will be Tiffany McWilliams, Emily Brown, Marina Muncan, Rose Kosgei, and Meskerem Legesse. A $4,000 check awaits the race winner with the chance to earn an additional $10,000 bonus for a sub-4:28.00 finish time.
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Fast Milers Headed to Minneapolis

Posted May 6th, 2008 at 2:15 PM by David Monti

Section: News & Results, Road Racing

Thursday’s Medtronic TC 1 Mile will give 2600 citizen athletes a chance to test themselves at the sport’s classic distance, while a much smaller group of elite athletes will be running all-out for significant cash prizes. It will be the fourth annual edition for Minnesota’s most important road mile.

The venue will be Nicollet Mall in downtown Minneapolis. A mass wave of about 1000 runners will start things of at 6:50 p.m., followed by age-group and championship waves beginning at 7:53 p.m. The elites, running for a $25,000 prize money purse, will bring the show to a rousing close. A special $10,000 bonus is on the line for the first man to break 4:00.00 and the first woman to break 4:28.00.

Steve Sherer (Pictured)leads the men’s entry list. The 27 year-old athlete and former Michigan State Spartan, ran 3:56-flat during the indoor season, and finished third in the AT&T USA Indoor Championships at 1500m.
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Torres, Flanagan Victorious at Central Park Challenge

Posted March 15th, 2008 at 12:50 PM by David Monti

Section: News & Results, Road Racing

At the inaugural Central Park Challenge here today, which incorporated the U.S. Men’s 8-K Championship, Jorge Torres (Pictured) and Shalane Flanagan won their respective races convincingly. But the paths taken to their titles were completely different.

In the men’s race, all eyes were on U.S. mile record holder, Alan Webb, running in only his fourth professional road race and his first race of 2008. Webb was on the lead with Christian Hesch at the first mile (4:36), and was right behind Andrew Carlson at the two mile mark (9:05). Carlson began to push the pace in the third mile (13:37), but Webb and Christian Hesch surged through the 5-K mark (14:10) where primes were awarded for the top-3 men (Webb was first with Hesch just behind).
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Overcast Skies, Chance of Rain for U.S. 8k Champs in NYC

Posted March 15th, 2008 at 8:00 AM by Martin Kennedy

Section: News & Results

Weather.com is forecasting cloudy skies, temperatures around 43 degrees Fahrenheit, and 15mph winds for this morning’s 9am start time of the Central Park Challenge in New York City.

Hosted by the New York Road Runners (NYRR’s), the event includes the U.S. Men’s 8k Championship and a separate Invitational Women’s Race.

The top entrants in the men’s national championship are Alan Webb, who will be making his season debut, Jorge Torres, James Carney, Andrew Carlson, and Fasil Bizuneh. Shalane Flanagan comes in as the favorite for the women’s contest, but will face challenges from notables such as Team USA Minnesota’s Katie McGregor and Carrie Tollefson.

A total prize purse of $70,000 will be on the line, with $10,000 going to each race winner.

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Jen Rhines and Ian Dobson Withdraw from Central Park Challenge

Posted March 10th, 2008 at 11:00 AM by Jeremy Sussman

Section: News & Results

Jen Rhines and Ian Dobson (Pictured), both of Mammoth Lakes, CA, have withdrawn from the Central Park Challenge on Saturday, March 15, it was announced today by New York Road Runners president and CEO Mary Wittenberg.

Rhines, who on Friday ran in the preliminaries of the 3000 meters at the IAAF World Indoor Championships in Valencia, Spain, told race organizers that she was still suffering from a lingering illness contracted after the U.S. Indoor Track Championships at the end of February. Dobson, the 2006 Manchester Road Race champion, cited a hip injury as his reason for withdrawing.
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Note on the News: Feature Story on Carrie Tollefson

Posted January 8th, 2008 at 12:00 PM by David Monti

Section: News & Results, Track & Field

MinnPost.com has published a feature story on USA middle distance runner and 2004 Olympian Carrie Tollefson.

The article covers an array of topics including her rehabilitation following surgery, starting to train again this past September, focusing on the 1500m at the June/July 2008 U.S. Olympic Track & Field Trials, and her “laser-beam focus” on returning to the Olympics.

You can read the full article via the following link:

http://tinyurl.com/2w3lqf

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TFS News Briefs: 10/20/07

Posted October 20th, 2007 at 11:00 AM by Jimmie R. Markham

Section: News & Results, Marathons, Cross Country, Track & Field, TFS News Briefs

Ode the the Half-Marathon
In advance of the October 28th running of the Koala Health and Wellness Centers and Luke’s Locker Half Marathon, the Houston Chronicle has published an article this week about the surging popularity of half-marathons. According to the article, “there were 10 percent more half-marathons (550) and 10 percent more half-marathon finishers (nearly 600,000) in 2006 than in the previous year.” Read more at: [Houston Chronicle]

When Mother Nature Scoffs Marathon Preparations
Rain, hail, sleet, snow or even extreme heat and gale-force winds. None of these weather conditions may prevent a mailman from making his daily appointed rounds, but they must cause Marathon Race Directors to have nightmares. The LA Times has published an interesting article discussing this very thing. Read more at: [LA Times]

Carrie Tollefson Hopes to Race Again in January
Read Carrie Tollefson’s latest blog entry as she describes how she is training again “pain-free” and hopes to race again in January. Read more at: [NYRR]
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Ukrainian Mykola Antonenko Dominates 26th Medtronic Twin Cities Marathon

Posted October 8th, 2007 at 8:10 AM by Jeanie Rebb

Section: News & Results, Marathons

After leading the pack from the start, Mykola Antonenko increased the overall pack pace by mile two. Ed Eyestone called the race for the elite men in the lead vehicle ahead of the pack. According to Eyestone, Augustus Kavutu Mbusya put on the heat between miles 5 and 6, but Antonenko broke away at mile 7. By the half-marathon mark, race officials say he maintained at least a minute lead ahead of the rest of the pack, finishing with a time of 2:13:54.

Antonenko said he was happy with his race, but didn’t achieve his goal today. “Psychologically it’s hard to do your goal time by yourself. If I had a group of people pulling me, I could have reached my 2:11 goal,” he said.

“It was a gutsy, courageous effort on his part to go for it on day that was a bit warm,” said Eyestone. Joseph Mutinda finished second with a time of 2:20:12 and Mbusya was third with a time of 2:21:13.

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Hundreds gather to remember Mike Long

Posted July 28th, 2007 at 11:22 AM by David Monti

Section: News & Results

Under the warm Southern California sun, which no doubt had influenced his sunny disposition, hundreds of family, friends and running industry colleagues gathered at Mission Point Park to remember Elite Racing’s legendary elite athletes coordinator, Mike Long, who died unexpectedly last week at 65.

Tears flowed freely as more than a dozen people came to the podium to remember Long, showering him with praise and sharing their goodbyes.

“For those who never met him words would not suffice,” said writer and television commentator, Toni Reavis, who acted as emcee. He called the diminutive Long, who only stood 5′ 6″ (168cm) tall, “the center around which all we revolved.”

Long’s son, Bruce, said that his father’s sudden death –believed to be a heart attack– was probably how his father would have wanted to go, not caring for lingering goodbyes. “He was never a hospital bed kind of guy,” he said, his sunglasses concealing his tear-swollen eyes.
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